The Justice Committee is seeking views on the recommendations in the Scottish Court Service's (SCS) recent report, ‘Shaping Scotland’s Court Services’. The SCS published its recommendations on 9 April and the report can be found on the Scottish Court Service website (external website)
The Committee welcomes evidence from individuals as well as from organisations and professional bodies on the local impacts the proposed recommendations would have. All responses will be made available to the Committee.
What information is the Committee looking for?
Please address the following questions in your submission—
1. What will be the local impact of the SCS’s recommendations on access to justice?
2. What will the local impact be on court users of the SCS’s recommendations?
Justice Committee consideration
The Justice Committee expects to consider written submissions prior to considering any subordinate legislation.
The Justice Committee invites all interested organisations and individuals to submit written evidence on the SCS’s recommendations on a future court structure in Scotland.
All submissions should be provided by no later than midday on Tuesday 21 May 2013.
How to submit written evidence
Before making a submission, please read the Parliament’s policy on treatment of written evidence by subject and mandatory committees.
Written submissions should normally be limited to around 4 sides of A4. Longer submissions should be accompanied by a short summary of the main points. Submissions should be set out in numbered paragraphs. Where the submission refers to existing published material, it is preferable to provide hyperlinks or full citations (rather than extensive extracts).
Anyone wishing their evidence to be treated confidentially should contact the Justice Committee clerking team at the email address or phone number below before submitting their evidence. It will then be for the Committee to decide whether or not to accept the submission on the basis that it will not be published (though it will be seen in full by the Committee). However, the Parliament is required to consider requests for information under freedom of information legislation and therefore cannot guarantee that the evidence will never be released.
The Committee welcomes written evidence in English, Gaelic or any other language. If possible, written submissions should be submitted electronically (preferably in word processing format i.e. Microsoft Word or Apple Pages) by email to:
[email protected]
Hard copy written submissions should be sent to:
Justice Committee Clerks
Room T2.60
Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
Contact
Any queries about written submissions should be addressed in the first instance to the Justice Committee clerking team at the above email address or (0131) 348 5047.